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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/24356677">Strawberries</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/tamales/pseuds/tamales'>tamales</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Percy Jackson and the Olympians &amp; Related Fandoms - All Media Types</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Drabble, F/F, Fluff, Gen, Pre-Relationship, Strawberry Picking, clarisse is mentioned in like a line.</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-05-24</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-05-24</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-04 09:27:29</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>771</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/24356677</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/tamales/pseuds/tamales</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>thalia thinks katie is as pretty and as yummy as the strawberries.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Katie Gardner/Thalia Grace</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Strawberries</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    
<p></p><div>
  <p>Thalia liked to think she knew a little something about plants. Hell, she was even a tree for a couple of years. That alone should have gotten her out of strawberry picking duty. Chiron apparently disagreed. So here she was kneeling on the grass and plucking strawberries with aching fingers all while wearing a silly "<em>Delphi Strawberry Service</em>" apron that's permanently splattered with red splotches. She looked and felt like a fool. </p>
</div><p><br/>
The grumbles from Clarisse as she struggled with her own basket, made Thalia feel a bit better.</p><p>Before she could blink, her hands were swatted away from the strawberry stems. “You're doing it wrong,” Katie Gardner, the apparent overseer of today's strawberry picking unlike an actual adult, stated. </p><p>Thalia frowned as she watched the girl's nimble fingers pluck the strawberry effortlessly from off the stem. “What do you mean?" </p><p>She thought she was doing pretty well. With a glance at the girl's own basket, she huffed. Obviously not as good as the Demeter girl, but her bucket of strawberries weren't ALL completely mushy. </p><p>“First, you have to make sure it's ripe," Katie said, her hand lifted up one of the strawberries, “if it's green at the bottom—like this one—it's not ripe."</p><p>Thalia gave an uninterested hum of acknowledgment. Her eyes scanned over the girl's face, it was round and soft which could be easily looked over by the sharpness of her scowl and it was splattered with freckles. Freckles much like her own except the other girl managed to look better than she ever could. not that she would admit that out loud obviously.</p><p>As if Katie knew she wasn't paying full attention, her brown eyes cut into her own. “And second, stop squishing them," she basically hissed out. “Seriously, don't do that. You'll ruin the strawberries—even more."</p><p>Slightly red-stained hands rose in defense. “Right, no squishing. Got it," Thalia muttered.</p><p>Without even a glance at Katie or at the patch of red fruit, she plucked one and threw it in her mouth. A hum of approval escaped her. Now that was a good one.</p><p>A groan from beside her, disappointment laced in it, had her looking over.“Are you," Katie paused, two fingers pinched the bridge of her freckled nose, “are you eating them?"</p><p>Thalia scoffed with a mouth full of strawberry as she wiped at her red-stained lips. “No, of course not."</p><p>She watched the daughter of Demeter roll her eyes—they were a nice, light shade of brown with specks of green mixed in them. Yeah, they were certainly nice—and muttered something about her being just as bad as the Stolls as she turned back to her own section of strawberries. Thalia's lips quirked down when she struggled to do the same. A bitter taste settled in her mouth; she wasn't as bad as the Stolls if anything she was better than them and that was that. She puffed out a breath as she picked another strawberry and popped it in her mouth. The sweet taste of it covered the weird bitterness on her tongue. </p><p>Whatever, it didn't matter anyway.</p><p>For a few minutes, she sat there plucking the fruit away quietly. It was like second nature at this point, the strawberries coming off with ease until a sudden idea hit her like a brick and the strawberry turned to mush in her hand. She wiped it away on the grass. A grin that bordered on mischievous, spread across her face as she reached for another one.</p><p>“Hey Katie," her name rolled nice and effortlessly off her tongue; almost, if not more, sweet as the strawberries, “want one?"</p><p>A fresh and perfectly plucked strawberry dangled between Thalia's fingers. Those nice brown eyes sparkled with amusement and slight exasperation as they scanned over her face. Katie opened her mouth, no doubt was there a snarky reply already locked and loaded, before she shook her head as if she thought better of it, and closed it. Of course Thalia's grin hadn't faltered—even with the uncertainty of what that reaction meant— instead she lightly shook it, tempting the girl to take it. </p><p>When she shrugged and leaned over, Thalia expected her to reach out and take it with her hand. Like a normal person. Certainly <em>not</em> for her eat it straight from her fingers. For a moment, she sputtered wordlessly as the tips of her ears burned red and when she felt lips brush against her fingertips, she yanked her hand away.</p><p>To say her face was just as red as the berries would be an understatement because really, she certainly hadn't expected that.</p>
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